The recent rebound by oil prices from 5 ½-year lows has legs, Tom Hutchinson, senior editor of the Newsmax newsletter "The High Income Factor,"
told Newsmax TV.
"It's pretty much agreed by everyone who follows it: oil prices should trend higher over the course of the year," the Newsmax Financial Braintrust (FBT) member, told the network's "America's Forum" show.
"They might go lower still before then, they might hover around this level for a while. But remember, when oil prices go down as much as they have — and they went down as much as 60 percent from the summer highs — production stops."
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on DIRECTV Ch. 349 and DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system – Click Here Now
Producers close unprofitable wells, Hutchinson explained. "Some of the production is shut down. At the same time, with lower prices, there tends to be more demand for oil. Lower prices are met with less supply and more demand, which drives it back up."
Asked about accusations of criminal activity at U.K. bank HSBC, he said, "The broader picture is that these large western banks are in regulatory hell right now."
They are seen as responsible for the 2008 financial meltdown, "but in the years following the crisis, they had to be nourished back to health, and the politicians couldn't lay into them," Hutchinson said.
"Now that they're healthier and they've recovered, the regulatory environment for them is going to be fierce. It's popular for any politician to take a swipe at them, and you're going to see a lot more of it."
On the subject of taxes, "the best time to file is as soon as you can do it correctly," Hutchinson said.
You don't want to file before you have all your forms. But "when you have all your information, the earlier the better," he said. "Obviously, if you're getting a refund, you want that money as soon as possible."
If you owe the government money, while you don't want to pay early, "if you get it done earlier, it's a lot less stressful," Hutchinson noted.
"I've been that 23-year-old who was running to the post office at midnight on April 15 to file at the last minute. I don't like doing it that way anymore. You want to cut down on stress."
If you wait until the last minute, "you don't know what will happen in the last couple of weeks," Hutchinson said. "You could get distracted. [So] it's a good idea to get it done early."
Avoid filing for an extension if possible, because that increases your chance of an audit, he said.
"Any confusion, anything that might get you on the IRS radar screen, you want to try to avoid if possible," he pointed out.
"If you can't help it, you can't help it. But to the extent you can get it in on time," you're better off.
Related Stories:
© 2026 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.